BOOK XIV. CHAP. V. 1815. "On the 20th, at five in the evening, the king "A multitude, full of zeal, accompanied him at "Meanwhile the declaration promulgated at Vienna, on the 13th of March, in the name of all the European powers assembled in Congress, reached Lille. The king caused it immediately to be distributed and placarded, hoping, but in vain, to enlighten the troops with respect to the dreadful consequences with which their treason was about to be followed, and the inevitable misfortunes it would draw upon their country. "On the 28d his majesty learned that the Duke of Bassano, appointed minister of the interior, had sent to the prefect of Lille orders in the name of Bonaparte. On the same day Marshal On the same day Marshal Mortier stated to the minister of the king's household, that in consequence of the report that the Duke of Berri was about to arrive with the household troops and two Swiss regiments, all the garrison was ready to mutiny; that he would conjure the king to leave the place in order to avoid the most dreadful of misfortunes; that by escorting his majesty himself to the gates of the town, he still hoped to command respect from. the soldiers, but that would no longer be possible if the departure was for a moment de layed. 66 The king then judged it necessary to order his military household to march on Dunkirk, but the order unfortunately was not received. With respect to himself, being unable to go directly to that town, he went to Ostend. His majesty left Lille at three o'clock, accompanied by Marshal Mortier, and followed by the Duke of Orleans. On arriving at the bottom of the glacis, the Duke of Treviso considered himself bound to return, to prevent the disorder which was likely to take place in the garrison during his absence. The Duke of Orleans also returned into the fortress, and did not leave it until some hours after. -Marshal Macdonald did not separate from the king until they arrived at the gates of Menin, and, to the last moment, he and the Duke of Treviso afforded to his majesty consoling proofs that the sanctity of oaths and the faith of men of honor are not despised by all the brave soldiers of whom the French army is proud. "A piquet of the national-guard of Lille, and a detachment of the royal cuirassiers and chasseurs followed his majesty to the frontiers. Some of the latter, as well as several officers, were unwilling to abandon him, and accompanied him to the boundary of Belgium. The king arrived at Ostend, intending to proceed to Dunkirk, on the occupa tion of that town by his household-troops. "In the mean time this unfortunate household, to which were joined a great number of volunteers of all ages aud conditions, followed the same route which the king took, in order to proceed to Lille. Monsieur and the Duke of Berri, always at the head, and always sharing the fatigues of this brave chosen band, had occasion to admire the heroic firmness of the troops composing it. Youths who, for the first time, burthened their arms with a weapon, old men performing forced marches on foot, through roads which heavy and continual rain had rendered almost impassable, were associated with this faithful corps, and never were discouraged by the privations they suffered, nor by the still more painful uncertainty of a march depending on advices, which the defection of the neighbouring garrison might render of the most disastrous nature. In the absence of orders, which the king had not been able to transmit to them, and on information that his majesty had left Lille, the column proceeded directly to the frontier; but being unable to defile with sufficient promptitude to follow in a body, Marshal Marmont (who commanded under the orders of the prince, with zeal and activity worthy of better success) having got embarrassed in marshy ground, whence the horses were extricated with extreme difficulty, a part of these unfortunate men were compelled to remain behind, and Monsieur fearing that their attachment might cause them to encounter useless perils, authorized them to retire. But being soon after surprised at Bethune by orders from Paris, they had not all time to disperse, and Mousieur can only hope to rally round him successively, all those whom he may be able to collect on the frontier, where he for that purpose remains. "It was on the 25th, at eight in the evening, that the king learned the arrival of Monsieur at Ypres, and that the intelligence of the fate which his household-troops experienced, made an addition to the weight of the afflictions he had to sustain. "Amidst these disasters his majesty has received brilliant proofs of fidelity; but these must in some measure still farther aggravate his regret. He has had to leave a good and amiable people a prey to all the excesses of a misled soldierythere are devoted and courageous servants whom he cannot assemble around him-traits of unshaken constancy have been exhibited by several most distinguished chiefs, to whom he can offer no other recompense than the reward of that esteem and eulogium which France and posterity will one day bestow on them. "Among the recollections too deeply engraved ever to be effaced from the heart of the king, among the honorable sentiments of which he has received the most affecting proofs, he places in the first rank those derived from the conduct of Marshal Mortier. Since the arrival of his majesty at Ostend, he has learned, from the Duke of Orleans, that an order for arresting him and all the princes had reached the marshal. An officer of the staff, the bearer of a dispatch from Marshal Davoust, containing the same order, arrived afterwards at Lille. The king had then left that place, and the Duke of Treviso made such arrangements that nothing transpired on that subject until after the departure of the Duke of Orleans. "This succinct relation of the principal transactions that occured in the short and disastrous period, the picture of which has just been traced, CHAP. V. 1815. may afford an idea of the sudden and innumera- BOOK XIV, ble difficulties with which the king was surrounded. Never did any event more unexpectedly and more rapidly change the face of a great nonarchy: but never did a more striking opposition between the spirit of the soldier and the citizen more completely paralyse patriotism, weaken authority, and invest with magic terror the man who, appearing almost alone on the French territory, had, within two days, at his disposal a numerous force armed against a defenceless people. "To conclude, the simultaneous and general defection of the army was not, as has been shewn, founded on any motive capable of attaching it for any considerable period of time to the fate of the man who has resumed a too fatal ascendency over it. The tacit compact which he has made with it, will soon be broken by the reverses which await him. It is not Bonaparte proscribed, rejected, and about to be overwhelmed by the indignation of all Europe, that this credulous soldiery wished to follow; they turned their eyes to the destroyer of the world, whom they beheld ready to deliver up to them its spoils. But the illusion dissipated, Bonaparte will soon lose his adventitious force. The king awaits that period of reflection which follows the intoxication of a great error-he awaits it with an impatience corresponding to the happy result which he anticipates.' 99 Louis, on his retreat to Lille, issued two ordinances, the first forbidding all his subjects to pay taxes of any kind to the so titled imperial government, and all public functionaries and receivers to pay into its chests the sums in their hands, and also suspending the sales of timber and domains in the departments invaded by Bonaparte; the second forbidding obedience to the law of conscription, or any other recruiting order emanating from him. Louis afterwards removed his residence to Ghent, where he had with him three of his ministers, the Duke of Feltre (Clarke) and the Counts Blacas and Jaucourt; to these he added in his council Count Lally Tallendal and M. de Chateaubriand. The marshals Duke of Ragusa (Marmont) and Duke of Belluno (Victor), were also at Ghent. 1 BOOK XIV. 1815. CHAPTER VI. Declaration of the Congress at Vienna.-Remarks.—Treaty of the 25th of March.-Preparations for War.-Attempt to carry off the King of Rome from Vienna.-Prince-regent's Message on the Landing of Bonaparte in France.-Interesting Debates. THE ministers of the European powers had closed their deliberations, and the sovereigns CHAP. VI. had announced their departure for their respective capitals, when the intelligence of the landing of Bonaparte at Cannes unexpectedly burst upon them. To the undisguised astonishment with which every statesman was at first overwhelmed, succeeded apprehension and dismay. Although the force which he had brought with him from Elba was feeble and contemptible, they knew not how soon the discontented soldiery of France might flock round his standard, and enable him once more to menace the peace of Europe. It was therefore necessary, by some prompt and unequivocal manifesto, to declare their resolution to oppose him with their united forces. Lord Castlereagh had departed from Vienna for England, and was succeeded by the Duke of Wellington. The intelligence that Bonaparte had quitted Elba arrived at Vienna on the 7th; but his real destination was not known. On the 11th Talleyrand received a dispatch, announcing his landing on the coast of France; and, on the 13th, the following declaration was published. "The powers who have signed the treaty of Paris, assembled at the Congress at Vienna, being informed of the escape of Napoleon Bonaparte, and of his entrance into France with an armed force, owe it to their own dignity and the interest of social order, to make a solemn declaration of the sentiments which this event has excited in them. "By thus breaking the convention which has established him in the island of Elba, Bonaparte destroys the only legal title on which his existence depended; by appearing again in France with projects of confusion and disorder, he has deprived himself of the protection of the law, and has manifested to the universe, that there can be neither peace nor truce with him. "The powers consequently declare, that Napoleon Bonaparte has placed himself without the pale of civil and social relations; and that, as an enemy and disturber of the tranquillity of the world, he has rendered himself liable to public solved on, or shall hereafter resolve on, to com plete and to consolidate it, they will employ all their means, and will unite all their efforts, that the general peace, the object of the wishes of Europe, and the constant purpose of their la bours, may not again be troubled; and to guarantee against any attempt which shall threaten to replunge the world into the disorders and mi series of revolutions. "And although entirely persuaded that all France, rallying round its legitimate sovereign, will immediately annihilate this last attempt of a criminal and impotent delirium, all the sovereigns of Europe, animated by the same sentiments and guided by the same principles, declare that if, contrary to all calculations, there should result from this event any real danger, they will be ready to give to the King of France, and to the French nation, or to any other government that shall be attacked, as soon as they shall be called upon, all the assistance requisite to restore public tranquillity, and to make a common cause against all those who should undertake to compromise it. "The present declaration, inserted in the register of the Congress assembled at Vienna, on the 13th March, 1815, shall be made public. "Done and attested by the plenipotentiaries of the high powers who signed the treaty of Paris. Vienna, 13th March, 1815." Here follow the signatures, in the alphabetical order of the courts. AUSTRIA.-Prince Metternich, Baron Wissenberg. FRANCE.-Prince Talleyrand, the Duke of Dalberg, Latour du Pin, Count Alexis and Noailles. GREAT BRITAIN.-Wellington, Clancarty, Cathcart, Stewart. PORTUGAL.-Count Pamella Saldonha Lobs. RUSSIA.-Count Rasumowsky, Count Staee- The return of Napoleon to France, at the head of an armed force, had annulled all the rights which the treaty of Fontainebleau had given him, and had again placed him in a state of hostility with the coalesced powers. Until he had shewn Until he had shewn that the treaty had been previously violated on the part of the allies, and he was again acknowledged by the French, and re-invested by them with the sovereignty, he was a mere brigand chief; not, indeed, the proper subject of private assassination, but amenable to the legal vengeance of the country which he had invaded. Much as Europe had suffered from the unrestrained ambition of this man, and from the perverted and restless character of the French army, it was politic in those who had been the means of delivering Europe, promptly to declare against the first attempt, however impotent, to revive the system which they had overthrown. And, as it had been whispered that there were considerable misunderstandings between the principal courts, and Bonaparte had affirmed that he was secretly supported by some of the allied powers, that Austria was his assured friend,-that his return would be immediately followed by that of the empress and the King of Rome,-and that England and Russia, tired of war, were indisposed to interfere in a quarrel in which they had no concern; it was necessary for the members of the Congress to convince the world, by some solemn and striking proceeding, that they were determined to complete and consolidate the work which they had begun, and that they were ready to combat against every one as a common enemy who should threaten, by a new war, or a new revolution, to disturb the general peace of Europe. On the 25th of March, before the arrival of Bonaparte in Paris was known at Vienna, but after it had appeared evident that no effectual resistance could be opposed to him, the following treaty was entered into by the allied powers: "Their majesties the Emperor of all the Russias, the Emperor of Austria, the King of Prussia, and the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, considering the consequences which the entrance of Bonaparte into France, and the present situation of that kingdom, may have with respect to the security of Europe, have determined, in these weighty circumstances, to carry into effect the principles consecrated in the treaty of Chaumout. They have therefore agreed, by a solemn treaty, mutually signed by each of the four powers, to renew the engagement that they will defend the so-happily restored order of things in Europe against all violation, and to adopt the most effectual measures for carrying this engagement into effect, and also to give it that necessary extension which existing circumstances imperiously demand. (Here follow the appointments, in the usual form, of the different plenipotentiaries whose names are undersigned.) Art. I. "The high-contracting powers solemnly engage to unite the resources of their respective states, for the maintenance of the treaty of peace BOOK XIV. concluded at Paris on the 30th of May, 1814, as well as that of the Congress of Vienna,-to carry CHAP VI into full effect the dispositions contained in these treaties,-inviolably to observe their ratified and 1815. subscribed agreements, according to their full import,-to defend them against every attack, and especially against the projects of Napoleon Bonaparte. Towards this end they bind themselves, should the King of France desire it, and in the spirit of the declaration issued on the 13th of March, with common consent and mutual agreement, to bring to justice all such as may have already joined, or shall hereafter join, the party of Napoleon, in order to compel him to relinquish his projects, and to render him incapable in future of disturbing the tranquillity of Europe and the general peace, under the protection of which the rights, the freedom, and the independence of nations have been established and secured. II." Although so great and salutary an object does not permit that the means destined to its attainment should be limited, and although the high-contracting powers have resolved to devote to this object all such resources as they can, in their respective situations, dispose of; yet they have nevertheless agreed, that every one of them shall constantly have in the field 150,000 men complete, of whom at least one-tenth shall be cavalry, with a proportionate artillery (not reckoning garrisons), and to employ them in active and united service against the common enemy. III. "The high-contracting parties solemnly engage not to lay down their arms but in agreement with each other, nor until the object of the war assigned in the 1st article of the present treaty shall have been attained; nor until Bonaparte shall be wholly and completely deprived of the power of exciting disturbances, and of being able to renew his attempts to obtain the chief power in France. IV. "As the present treaty principally relates to the present circumstances, the engagements in the treaty of Chaumont, and particularly that contained in the 16th article, shall again recover their full force, as soon as the present object shall be attained. V. "Every thing relating to the command of the allied armies, the maintenance of the same, &c. shall be regulated by a special convention. VI. "The high-contracting parties shall have the right reciprocally to accredit with the generals, commanders of their armies, officers, whe shall be allowed the liberty of corresponding with their governments, in order to inform them of the military events, and of all that relates to the operations of the armies. VII. "As the engagements entered into by the present treaty have for object to maintain the general peace, the high-contracting powers agree to 1815. BOOK XIV. invite all the powers of Europe to accede to them. VIII. "As the present treaty is simply and CHAP. VI. solely entered into with a view to support France, and every other threatened country, against the attempts of Bonaparte and his adherents, his most Christian majesty shall be specially invited to accede thereto; and in the event of his majesty's claiming the force specified in article 2, he shall make known what assistance his circumstances enable him to contribute towards the object of the present treaty. IX. "The present treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged within the period of one month, or sooner if possible. "In testimony whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed and sealed the same. "Count RASUMOWSKY. Count NESSElrode. Prince METtternich. Baron WESsenberg. Prince HARDENBERG. Baron HUMBOLDT. WELLINGTON." Separate article.-"As circumstances might prevent his majesty the king of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from keeping constantly in the field the number of troops specified in the second article, it is agreed that his Britannic majesty shall have the option, either of furnishing his contingent in men, or of paying at the rate of thirty pounds sterling per annum for each cavalry-soldier, and twenty pounds per annum for each infantry-soldier, that may be wanting to complete the number stipulated in the second article. "In testimony whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed and sealed the same." The eighth article of the treaty, which invites the accession of the King of France, seemed to include a determination in the allies, not merely to attack the usurped power of Bonaparte, but to reinstate the Bourbons on the throne, thus interfering with or denying the right of the French to choose their own form of government. To force any particular dynasty or form of government on a people is inconsistent with the fundamental principles of the British constitution, and the liberal policy on which it has been the pride of England ever to act: when, therefore, the ratification of the treaty by the prince-regent was sent to Vienna, the following explanatory declaration accompanied it,-a declaration highly honorable to the British government. Declaration. "The undersigned, on the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty of the 25th of March last, on the part of his court, is hereby commanded to declare, that the eighth article of the said treaty, wherein his most Christian majesty is invited to accede, under certain stipulations, is to be understood as binding the contracting parties, upon principles of mutual security, to a common effort against the power of Napoleon Bonaparte, in pursuance of the third article of the said treaty; but is not to be understood as binding his Britannic majesty to prosecute the war with a view of imposing upon France any particular government. "However solicitous the prince-regent must be to see his most Christian majesty restored to the throne, and however anxious he is to contribute, in conjunction with his allies, to so auspicious an event, he nevertheless deems himself called upon to make this declaration, on the exchange of the ratifications, as well in consideration of what is due to his most Christian majesty's interests in France, as in conformity to the prin ciples upon which the British government has invariably regulated its conduct." At this time an event occurred at Vienna which caused considerable sensation. Several persons arrived in the villages near Schoenbrunn, the residence of the little Ex-king of Rome. Among them was Count Montesquieu, a near relative of the governess of the child. He contrived to gain admittance into the palace, under the pretence of visiting his aunt; and corrupting some of the domestics, he formed the plan of carrying off the son of Napoleon. The time was appointed.Carriages were ordered to be in waiting, and relays were bespoken at every post to the very frontiers of France. A chambermaid overheard some suspicious language from one of the women who attended on the young prince, and immediately hastened to the imperial palace to put the court on its guard. In the meantime, the police had been informed of the whole plot, and suffered it to proceed to the last moment, that they might secure all the accomplices. Every thing was prepared. A maid had the little Napoleon in her arms, and, attended by one of the chief of the conspirators, was just stepping into the carriage, when the officers appeared, and the whole band was arrested. It was probably with the hope of the success of this plot, that Napoleon had so diligently disseminated the account that the King of Rome and his mother would soon arrive at Paris. All the powers of Europe now began to arm; and the different roads in Germany and Prussia were covered with troops marching to the French frontiers. These, however, were only precautionary measures, the allies not having yet resolved on war. The British government sent strong reinforcements to the troops in the Netherlands. The imperial parliament had hitherto been chiefly occupied with matters of internal policy, when the extraordinary event of Bonaparte's land |